England were 5-0 down in the one-day series and on their way to
the next game when news came through about the terrorist attack on the Taj
Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and the team was hurriedly brought home. The E C B
immediately accepted the Indian Board’s request to return and play the Test
series. Persuaded by a combination of making a humanitarian gesture, the
promise of ‘presidential levels of security’ and the obligations of being
contracted, the England
players soon agreed that it was their duty to the game to return to India.

The first Test was relocated to Chennai, at a safer distance from
the scene of the terrorism. Strangely, the second was rescheduled at Mohali,
relatively close the Pakistan
border, which turned out to be an unsuitable venue in any case because of
poor light at this time of year.

Andrew Strauss scored a century in each innings at Chennai and India were set a 4th innings target of 386
runs, which had never before been reached in a Test in India. But
Sachin Tendulkar’s innings of 103* snatched a great victory for India, a
powerful symbol of defiance to the terrorists. The second Test at Mohali was
drawn as too much time was lost to bad light and fog, so India held
the RBS Cup by winning the two-Test series 1-0.

One-day squad announced:9 September 2008 (for both the “Stanford
Super Series” in Antigua and ODI matches in India)

Not considered:Michael Vaughan (to take a
break from international cricket).

Test Tour Party Announced : 29 September 2008.

Not selected:Ravi Bopara,Tim Bresnan.

Withdrawn:.Ryan Sidebottom (back injury).Amjad Khan was added to the squad on
7 December, as was Adil Rashidto gain experience as a non-playing squad
member.

Time between selection and departure from England

42 / 36 days

(9/29 September -

21 October/ 4 November)

Travel

AntiguaQLondonQMumbai

LondonQDubaiQChennai

The England
one-day side first flew to Antigua on 21
October to compete in the Stanford Super Series tournament.

The one-day squad flew from Antigua (where they had
lost the Stanford millions match on 1 November) via London (where there was a 12-hour stopover)
and arrived in Mumbai on 6 November.

On 4 December the Test players arrived in Abu Dhabi for a
practice and training camp while security arrangements in India were
checked. Nine Performance Squad
players (Ravi Bopara,Mark Davies,
Robbie Joseph, Sajid Mahmood, Samit Patel, Liam Plunkett, Ollie Rayner, Alan
Richardson) had also flown to Abu
Dhabi to be on stand-by.

The team departed for India
in two batches, one from Abu Dhabi and one
from Dubai,
on Monday, and the players touched down in Chennai on 8 December.

Stuart Broad remained in England for physiotherapy on his
strained hamstring and flew out to Chennai in time to be considered for the
second Test

Time spent in India

23 + 16 = 39 days

(6
November -29 November)

(8
December - 24 December

On-tour
selection panel

-

Reinforcements

Ryan Sidebottom needed a scan on his back
before the third ODI and did not play again on tour, and had to withdraw from
the Test side. Amjad Khan and Sajid Mahmood were about to reinforce the
one-day side when the last two matches were cancelled and the players
returned home.

The England
team donated half their match fees from the first Test against India to a
fund for victims of the attacks in Mumbai.

Accounts
of the tour

Postscript

M S Dhoni thanked the England team for returning to India, to
reassure everyone that it was a safe place.

Peter Moores, the coach, and
Kevin Pietersen, the captain, had not seen eye to eye but when the press
began to shed light on the rift between them, they could no longer work
cooperatively together. The E C Bwas
unable to achieve a reconciliation and dispensed with both of them.

With the tour of West Indies only weeks away, Hugh Morris, managing
director of English cricket, called on Andrew Strauss to take over the
captaincy, while batting coach Andy Flower was appointed interim coach.

Other
Test tours in 2008-09

Acknowledgements

To general reading of The Times newspaper digital archive
(Gale Group);Jamaica Gleanor
archive;National Library of Australia
Trove; Papers Past NZ.